Darling we have a winner

Yaya Mavundla walks away with  socialite of the year at the Feather Awards 10.

Yaya Mavundla with her award: Picture by Lerato Dumse

It was a deserving win for a friend, a sister and one of my  customers, Yaya Mavundla at the Feather Awards 2018.

In its tenth year, the glitzy event held at Johannesburg City Hall also paid tribute to the work done by the  late struggle and gay activist, Simon Nkoli. Flanked by brave beauties as she went on stage to except the award, Mavundla-a proudly transgender woman- said being named a socialite of the year  

was not only about her being on the list of every glitzy event but it was all about being visible as a transwoman.

I've known Yaya for a while now, I first saw her during an interview with eNCA reporter, Nontobeko Sibisi and I loved her from the distance. Despite all the gossip, the mockery and name calling she just went on to live her most purposeful life. In the year 2018, I got closer to Mavundla, as friends we  shared a lot about life and she has given me advise on many things.  I have witnessed first hand the effort she puts in whenever she attends an event. From putting on her make-up, to choosing the right hair, outfit and shoes just to make sure she looks presentable for every red carpet moment.  I have also witnessed how people who know nothing about being trans, gay or lesbian treated her. To name but a few examples, recently when she was at Multichoice office in Randburg a well known actor who has been harassing her at events caused a scene when he saw her. He intimidated her and told security not to allow her in the building because she is gay. Just last Sunday, one of the national tabloid newspapers saw it fit to refer to her as a man. This despite the writer and some senior reporters in that newsroom knowing she is openly trans.

These are two most recent incident but there are many more that she can pen down.

I was  both happy and proud on Thursday. From the day she was nominated, I dreamt of the day she will walk on that stage to grab the recognition she deserve. The category itself was  highly contested with the Modiselle sisters and Dr Smile also nominated in the same category. I'm so glad that her first ever award came from an event which recognize the work done by those in the LGBTIQ+ community.

The event itself did not disappoint at all when it came to entertainment or lets just say when Thami Dish knows how to treat guests. He made sure all his guests are entertained from the red carpet moment to the actual event, the Feather Awards ceremony. The event kicked off with a dramatic performance by amongst many artist, Kelly Khumalo. This beautiful mother of two and  strong woman was joined by transgender women on stage and through out the evening, Khumalo was in the arms of her new men. Idols judge and the  most famous gay in South Africa, Somizi Mhlongo was the MC for the night. The veteran entertainer left threw shades at the it girl whose name is now not worth a mention. While his  lover was watching him do his magic from the balcony of the hall. The event this year  also received a message of support from our president, Cyril Ramaphosa. We also spotted former Miss South Africa and now businesswoman, Basetsane Khumalo. You would swear aunt Bassie and aunt Khanyi Dlomo knows and uses an anti aging cream. Khumalo looked stunning in a black beaded glittery dress.

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Yaya is also the founder of Mzansi Pride. The annual event will be held in its fourth year will take place on the 24th of this month at Newtown Precinct Park

Feather Awards 10 nominees pic Supplied

The first neck piece we did for Yaya was a transflag

Pic Zanele Mholi

Nappies and baby hampers done.Now its time to raise R8 million

Ndabeni Creatives donated these baby packets that will be sent to Hillbrow and  Spring Clinic

I have been wanting to do charity work for Ndabeni Creatives for a while now but always thought the company was still at its  infant stage  to take such task. Yes, Ndabeni Creatives has a long list of charity work that it want to do through the profits obtained from clients. Some of these are short term charity goals, others are long term goals such as building a school in Port St Johns and adopt K.K. Ncwane Primary School and become its financial sponsor forever. So of these charity projects, the  company will be assisting others  towards a certain goal of either an organisation, church or community.

Currently the  short term charity goal for  the company is  to buy 20 chess sets for a club in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth. The club is founded by a young men who now teach this  chess skill to youngsters from the previously disadvantaged background. Another project is to "adopt
 a child", through Nalusana, an organisation that identifies school going children from the township of Port Elizabeth whose parents cannot afford to buy them school uniforms and other basics for the year and the last  is to help raise R8million for Youth Alive Christian Youth Club in Dube Soweto.

Just the other day when I was looking at the company's finances and the work we want to do, I realized that it didn't make much money to do some of these projects now. Yet there was a great desire of wanting to do charity work now. Thanks to a former colleague, Qaanitah Hunter.  Together with a group of women are trying to  collect 200 baby packs for Hillbrow and Spring Clinic. In both these day care clinics, usually mothers give birth and have to leave after six hours. "They are often very poor and come without basics.The aim is to these bags to the duala/Midwife to hand out to the women as they give birth.We already have sponsored for the mothers with sanitary pads. We trying to make 200 baby packs," Mrs Hunter told me the other day.

As a person with strong Christian background, I understand the importance of charity work. I've read many articles about successful business that continued to give to charity and its leaders. This among  others include William Colgate the founder, the founder of Colgate-Polmalive company. My current church leader, Pst Andre Olivier from Rivers Church also encourages this type of giving. I also understand that if you truly love God the way you say you do, one needs to share his wealth with the less fortunate. In this way, I believe that I am not only recognizing the source of my income but also help God's kingdom outside church. 

I'm glad Mrs Hunter posted the message of need on her social media pages. In this way, I was able to also contribute a few bags for the babies. It was something that I can do now while I raise enough money for the companies charity projects. This was from the profits that Ndabeni Creatives has made from its inception. It is not much, but it is what I can afford now. I would really encourage you as a reader of this blog to also do the same. It does not need to be much, we all start somewhere even with giving. I hope this does not only touch you but encourage you do do something, no matter how small it is, it might be everything for the person whom you doing it for.

We will give you what you want

Trust us to deliver on the look you want.

Graphic designer, Nolo Moima slaying with our wooden long earings. They are for sale for R100 each.

It doesn't matter whether your beaded item needs to convey a message or just loving it to for just.,,mhmhm.. yourself. Whatever your reasons of wanting a beaded African jewellery we will always deliver on our promise to you. If we cannot make it we will also tell you.

Trans activists, founder of Mzansi Pride publicist to internationally acclaimed photographer, Zanele Muholi and other South African Celebrities, Yaya Mavundla

Some of the people who have come to us for a custom made jewelery include transgender activist and founder of Mzansi Pride, Yaya Mavundla.

Model Wakhe with our beaded clutch bag

Talking to her recently, she shared her vision of wanting trans people visible. "The more we are visible the more people here in South Africa will know we exist. This could end the stereotypes that people have on gays and trans people. Sometimes people do not even know the difference between the two groups in the LGBTI community," she said.

 Award winning journalist, broadcaster and host of  Power Talk on Power FM,  Iman Rappetti on our twitter account

Yaya who is the founder of the Mzansi Pride wanted a necklace with trans colours to wear to some of the high end functions she sometimes attend. Later this months she will hosting the fourth annual Mzansi Pride to be held at Newtown Precinct Park opposite Bassline.

Mis  Dineo Ndwandwe rocking our necklace

https://www.facebook.com/khanyiswa.ndabeni.5/videos/10218068667607201/

Club Dj, Nalo Fancyface with our BET drama piece. Available at R850

Yaya wearing our new Messai chocker, available for R350 each

Having a bad hair day? Just doek it, besides even eNCA had to renew their dress code for it

Having a bad hair day? Why don't you just doek it and grab a matching clutch bag to go with it. 

Ankara print bags are for sale for R120 each

Besides even our  South African independent news channel eNCA  had to change their on air dress policy  to accommodate the doek. This after the  country came out in arms to defend and  support then  journalist, Nontobeko Sibisi whose story was not aired because  she was wearing a doek.

eNCA staff in support of doek for Nontobeko Sibisi ( picture supplied)

The hashtags #RespekTheDoek and #DoekTheNewsroom trended for days. You see most  African women- this including the high profile figures such as - former Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, minister in the Presidency for National Planning Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, EFFs  MP  Makoti Sibongile Khawula and the late  Winnie Madikizela-Mandela- the doek worn as a sign of resepect.  At times for  either religious and  cultural reasons like a newly wed woman would wear the doek to respect her in-laws or to show respect at a funeral. 

You can choose which bag you want and are for sale for R170 a set, earings, bag,  bracelets and doek

But the other reasons we love these  headscarf is that they are a quick fix to a bad hair day. So not only are we queening our look with it. We are able to hide what might be solved by a hair dresser later.

Queening at the Feathers Awards

Queening with our print bag and doek

At Ndabeni Creatives, we have all the different types of doeks. All made from the Ankara print. We sell these doeks together with our handmade bags,earings and bracelets as a set or alone.

90% of our products are handmade and manufactured locally

We know our customers love to mix and match, so our jewelery always match what is needed by the customer.

Choose yours now or whatsapp 0763607744 for your order

Imagine our mobile shop at your door step

Imagine our mobile shop at your door step.. Just imagine making extra money

The chocker and the big necklace are from the Maasai tribe in Kenya

One of the thrills of being a hawker-A person who travels about selling goods, typically advertising them by shouting -I mostly shout through social media-facebook, twitter, instagram and now working on ways to venture onto the  video sharing platform You Tube and horn my arrival in the arts and craft market- is that, you get to interact with your customers at a personal level.
They are able to share with you their ideas of how they would like their piece of traditional, western items be made. With custom made products, my customers have the  freedom to design their  piece, choose size, color and  length. Of course the higher the demand of work spent on an item, the higher the price of that particular items. The other expensive staff in my shop currently is the Maasai jewellery. These are originally made in Kenya apart from their artistic beauty that makes them worth the price, they travel from far to get to us in fact according to Google  the distance between South Africa and Kenya is about 4816km and 67 hours drives that is about 2 and half day on the road.

An invite from MTN Head Office staff in Johannesburg, South Africa

With this size of the business, you celebrate and cherish the milestones that comes with it and grow as it grows. One of those special moments to me was honoring an invite to come and set up my table for  MTN's international guest.
My friend shared a bit about why I would be helping her and the team if I came to with my shop to their offices. I remember, they booked a boardroom table for display and in minutes we had people surrounding the tables and looking excitedly at the items we had brought. There in my first visit, I notice some of the people who were keen to buy did not have cash on them. Going to the ATM would chow a lot of time for them as they were also pressed against time.  But  I noted the lack and  need to have a speed machine so that people can just swipe products they want. It took me months before I could finally invest in a speed point and so happy that things will now be easier for both my customer and me.

This speedpoint machine will make all the difference in my business.
But I am happy that I have finally made the decision. It is hard to ignore that esistand siyakhula. Ewe sifundile lol!. With this machine  the mobile shop- a door to door service which we offer our clients who are based in Johannesburg central and northern clients when they buy over the price of R1000- will also function smoothly. This area and servicing cooperates are still need to grow, so far we have had MTN and Mango Airlines staff booking us to sell. 

One of the international visitors at the MTN headoffice. She was amongst a group that attended training in the company

To book the Mobile shop is easy and it has financial benefits too. Lets say you and your friends or colleague went through our catalogue and liked what you saw. You can total the amount of your item together, if the sales are R1000, the person who book us will get 10% of that money back. Should your colleagues spend more than the initial order of R1000, you still get the 10% of the total sales made that hour or two. Soon after we total the money made through your efforts, we give you 10% of it back. So if lets say, our sales are R5000 in total. You will get R500 cash back. 

MTN staff trying a dramatic piece

Please note, one of the reasons we ask for the order to be at least R1000, is for us to be able to cover amongst other things, petrol and pay our casual workers who are only called when we need assistance.

This Wakanda Godess piece has been a hit.

The other way of making money through us, is when you buy our items for resale in other towns your own area. I'm sure by now  you have noticed that most of our items are much cheaper that the prices in the market already. Please note the quality of all the items is of high standard. We can even claim that we meets the international standards when it comes to our products. But our prices are still lower. One of the reasons for this is that we also cater for the people-majority women- who by in bulk from us and resale in their areas. Their buying price is much lower than a walk in customer. 

This piece was won in Nigeria recently, again another MTN staff

If you also want to start this, it is easy, tell us in advance the items you need. Give us a few days to make and we will post them to you using,  Pick n Pay Aramx, Post Office and even the bus services. We still making inquiry on transporting our goods out of South Africa as we have had inquiries as far as Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe about shipping.

Mango airline staff, trying our Ndebele neck piece

The cooperate gigs normally last for less than  one hour most.

A MTN staff with our bags

Mango Airline staff trying to choose from the variety of jewellery we had for them.


To book our mobile shop or buy in bulk for resale please call us on 0763607744
follow us on twitter on ndabenik
facebook Ndabeni Creatives
Instagram Khanyiswa2

Mainstream news knows us

It is exciting when you start something not knowing if it will get the exposure you want.But when I saw this Youtube video by the Daily Sun Cl team. I was over the moon to see we have made it to the main stream media. Soon soon everybody will be talking about us... You cant stop a girl from dreaming. But in the mean time, please check out the video (see the link below and what went down at the market this past weekend. The Soweto VW market is happening every Sunday at the Maponya Precinct Soweto.

 https://youtu.be/01RDKVXy8gE

Thank you for making my dream come closer to reality

Sometimes it is easy to forget the people who started the journey with you.

Today, I want to honor those who were supported the business in the past four months. I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support in pictures. The team at VW Soweto market, friends who didn't mind being my models

award winning singer, Naima Kay with our Gold Ndebele Piece

two ways of wearing our long bracelets, either as a choker or an ordinary bracelet

A customer wearing a rastafarian colours beaded necklace

The first beaded transgender flag we did was for Yaya. She has been nominated for the 2018 Feathers Awards in the socialite of the years category